Toyota Prius vs Scion XD

Help. I googled my headline and was linked to an old 2005/2006 post on this site. Hoping for an update - especially since the Scion XD is so much more appealing (IMHO) now. I know nothing about cars. My overall goal is to save the most money - period! (Sorry..I don't care as much about the earth - my wallet comes first!) That means upfront costs..gas...insurance...long term repairs. I plan to keep the car a very long time - this is torture. I live in South Florida so no hills and I need to slow down on the highway anyway. Any hints/suggestions/opinions would be appreciated!

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My overall goal is to save the most money - period! (Sorry..I don't care as much about the earth - my wallet comes first!) That means upfront costs..gas...insurance...long term repairs. I plan to keep the car a very long time - this is torture.

If your ultimate goal is to save money, get the Scion xD. They are way down in sales right now so you should be able to buy at invoice. Hopefully the brand will be around as long as you want to own the car. Scion is doing very poorly in sales right now.But the cost of a Scion is around $8K less than a Prius. $8K will buy a lot of gas! I hated the Scion xD when I drove it. It has a very high beltline and tiny window in the rear and inside it's as dark as a tomb on a dark night. My wife couldn't figure out where any of the gears were in the Manual and the shifter was like rubbery coal. Of course it's quite cold up here but no other car we drove had those problems. I found the xD had more power than the Fit and was more stable on the highway with enough oomph! to move along as pass ok.We bought a Civic Si and love it but it's a breeze to drive and my wife just loves the car and it's so slick to shift.The xD needs a better manual shifter.our next car will be a super economy model after the summer. I'm holding out with one car now because the new Prius due out in 1-2 years supposedly will get 70mpg!For now, based on what you write, the xD will save you more money over the Prius, unless you drive 50K miles a year!

For the record, you can't get a Scion at invoice. The brand uses a pure price model. What you see is what you pay.

Google for Scion dealer problems. They are so down in sales that pure pricing doesn't work and they can't sell what they have in stock.Toyota might even drop Scion although no one knows.Pure price works if your sales aren't down 50%.

We just picked up an xD automatic yesterday for $15,500 plus tax, which was about a $600 discount.

We also looked at the Prius, and just couldn't make the numbers work. In other words, as efficient as it is, the extra purchase price was not balanced out by the gas mileage, even at $5 per gallon. Read the forums to see what many Prius owners ACTUALLY acheive, and you'll see that 45 mpg is pretty good, but not as big a difference as you might think.

We just picked up an xD automatic yesterday for $15,500 plus tax, which was about a $600 discount.

Congrats on the new car! So much for pure Price.

We also looked at the Prius, and just couldn't make the numbers work. In other words, as efficient as it is, the extra purchase price was not balanced out by the gas mileage, even at $5 per gallon. Read the forums to see what many Prius owners ACTUALLY achieve, and you'll see that 45 mpg is pretty good, but not as big a difference as you might think.

The Prius is a good car that can easily be better with an adjustable seat. It's still not going to get awesome fuel economy unless you are very careful how you drive.I was doing 70mph is a 55 mph area and a Prius blew by me doing at least 80mph! :surprise: Somehow I don't think he was getting 45 mpg on the highway. :blush: I crunched the numbers myself using EPA figures and the Corolla and the xD which really is a Yaris 5 door with a different body shows that you'd have to drive a long time to make up the difference in fuel.So if price and fuel are a factor the xD/Corolla type cars win. but for pure outright fuel economy I'd give the prius the edge. I don't know about driving a Prius in the mountains. I think that might hurt the economy just like winter does as the car runs all the time to keep the car warm.

I also thought the xD had better materials inside, though I'm not sure if that was b/c they engineered th Prius with "lightweight" materials, or if materials have just gotten better in the years that the Prius has been on the market.

Of course a big advantage of the Prius over the xD (literally) is interior space. Resale is pretty darn good too.

I also thought the xD had better materials inside, though I'm not sure if that was b/c they engineered th Prius with "lightweight" materials, or if materials have just gotten better in the years that the Prius has been on the market.

Yes I agree, when I test drove one I was impressed that it felt substantial and that it actually had some power for the highway and was better power-wise than the Fit. But the steering was not all that direct and the shifter was so rubbery and vague that my wife actually had so much trouble driving it that we gave it a pass as I had to drive it back the 3 miles to the dealership.Now it they'd put that engine in the Fit with the Fit's shifter that would be a dream economy car!

Of course a big advantage of the Prius over the xD (literally) is interior space. Resale is pretty darn good too.

Yes the Prius has a good amount of room but the Prius does that that long sloping nose and the windshield sits very far away from the steering wheel.But overall I like both cars but neither model meets my current needs. I'll wait and see how the new Fit is but the Prius is on my list I'd just rather buy the next generation Prius than the current one.

Average MPG 39.6! VERY conservative driving, but probably most prius drivers with their eyes glued to the MPG display drive that way too

You won't get great fuel economy driving like a wildman anyway. The Scion xD is a good car and one of the cars we are considering for a second car.I love teh power it has versus teh more practical Fit.We dive mostly highways once out of the city and the Fit has trouble merging unless you really gun it.

I have test driven a 2007 Prius and a 2008 Fit Sport AT. The Prius had enough power to merge effectively. Although it is no speed demon, I also had no trouble entering and exiting the busy Hou TX I10 in the FIT. I did not have to gun the engine and was generally impressed with the smooth power. Thats not to say I did not encounter the typical 4 cyl buzziness, but for the most part I was able to get up to speed (70-75mph) in a timely manner at less than full throttle.

The xD is a 3rd car for us...my daily driver is an '06 Civic Ex, and my partners is an '05 STS. We wanted a replacement for a V8 Grand Cherokee that we could throw the kayaks on and haul the animals around in.

We also liked the xD b/c there are so few around.

I'l tell you, with the MPG difference between this and the G. Cherokee, this car will pay for itself in no time ;-) plus its better riding than the Jeep.

I have test driven a 2007 Prius and a 2008 Fit Sport AT. The Prius had enough power to merge effectively. Although it is no speed demon, I also had no trouble entering and exiting the busy Hou TX I10 in the FIT. I did not have to gun the engine and was generally impressed with the smooth power. Thats not to say I did not encounter the typical 4 cyl buzziness, but for the most part I was able to get up to speed (70-75mph) in a timely manner at less than full throttle.

The automatic in the Fit was underwhelming to say the least but then again it was driven back to back with the manual which was ok but not as good on power as i'd like. We have a lot of maniac drivers up here. :sick: The xD felt more solid and planted. I really like the Fit's layout and almost everything about the Fit except the lack of power and the lack of a seat height adjustment for my wife.For me the manual is the way to go, at least for me.

The xD is a 3rd car for us...my daily driver is an '06 Civic Ex, and my partners is an '05 STS. We wanted a replacement for a V8 Grand Cherokee that we could throw the kayaks on and haul the animals around in

The xD or Fit or whatever we get will be a second car for us. Our primary car is a 2008 Civic Si. I need very supportive seats and the Si is great for that.I find myself liking the Subaru STI but hate the fuel economy of it. Make a nice family car but my wife can't push the clutch all the way to the floor even with the seat all the way forward.

Help Needed Please!! After a month of research, I just can't make the numbers work for the Prius, sadly. I want to be very conservative with my money these days. Therefore, it's down to the Matrix or the Scion. Used Matrix or 2008 Scion. Dealer offered $15,300 with 3 year B to B and free tires/batteries for life: 15,300 + tax etx for the XD. Nothing yet on the Matrix.

I went into the Toyota dealer last week looking for a Prius and drove out in a Scion XD. I paid about 21K when all was said and done. By total coincidence, my brother went into a Toyota dealer the day before looking for something with a base price of 11K (I don&#146;t remember what it was). He ended up buying a Prius. He paid 34K. Of coarse he didn&#146;t drive out of the dealer in it (it should arrive any day now).I took my XD on a 320 mile trip which included 3 mountain passes (Snoqualmie, Blewitt, and Stephens, Wa.) I got 36.2 mpg. I had my eyes glued to the MPG indicator and it really affected my driving habits. I probably would have gotten much lower mpg if the indicator were not there.

In the city I&#146;m getting about 25 mpg when I&#146;m driving like an [non-permissible content removed] and about 28 when I&#146;m driving like a polite Seattleite.

So far I am liking the Scion. It is quick enough. One thing though, on the highway, the steering seems just a bit squirrelly. Like if you budge the wheel on accident while you are messing with the Zune (iPod), you might swerve a bit more than you expect.

Next month my brother and I will be driving our new cars from Seattle to Yellowstone and back. We will compare notes and I&#146;ll post the results on this blog.

I've been shopping for an xD for about a month. I'm an experienced buyer and I've tried to negotiate price with several dealers. I've used a number of strategies, but nothing has worked. So far they are sticking to their pure price creed. One of the things that bothers me about Scion is that most options like upgrade radio, sound shield, spoiler, etc are not installed and costed by the manufacturer. They are installed at "Port" after the car enters the US from Japan. This means that the traditional car buying approach of comparing invoice vs. MSRP for various options cannot be known. We all know that if the Scion.com price for, say, a spoiler is $385, the dealer surely isn't paying $385. With other cars, it is possible to know how much the dealer pays. Edmunds doesn't offer any data to help in this area.